FAQs - Banking Cord Blood

Cord blood banking is the collection and storage of blood taken from the umbilical cord after the baby is delivered.

The first successful cord blood transplant was performed in 1988 on a five-year old boy, with Fanconi anemia, who was given a poor chance of survival. The donor was the boy’s HLA-identical newborn sister. More than 17 years later, the recipient is alive and cured of the hematologic manifestations of Fanconi anemia. Since the first cord blood transplant, thousands of transplants (over 10,000 reported in 2006) have taken place around the world.

The world’s first private cord blood bank was established in 1992. StemCord started Singapore’s first cord blood bank in 2002. Currently, more than 17,000 families have taken advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by banking their baby’s cord blood with StemCord.

Storing cord blood is suitable for every mother unless your gynaecologist has cautioned you of a difficult or complicated pregnancy. Cord blood banking is particularly useful and advisable for the following groups of people as a form of biological insurance:

• Families with history of blood disorder and cancers
  Cord blood banking potentially offers stem cell transplant as an extra treatment option.
• Small families and single child families, mothers with difficult or late pregnancies, or sub-fertile couples
  As the child may be the only child and hence will not have any donor if he develops any disease that requires a stem cell transplant.
• Couples of different ethnic groups
  It will be difficult for these couples to be find a donor from public cord blood banks as the genetic constitution would be very different.
• The first born child
  It is advisable to bank cord blood for the first born as we will not know if subsequent pregnancies will be successful. If the first born turns out to be the only child, he will not have any siblings to depend on for blood stem cells, should he require any

More and more families have chosen to collect, process and store their baby’s cord blood as it provides a safe, painless and non-controversial means of acquiring stem cells. These stem cells have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases including common cancers and blood disorders, such as the sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and leukemia.

Storing the baby’s cord blood is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, available only at birth. Cord blood stem cells are young and healthy cells, and are better matches when used for transplants. Cord blood transplants are generally preferred because of a lower complication rate compared to bone marrow transplants. When stored in a private cord blood bank, cord blood can be readily made available should the need arise, saving the precious time needed to search for a matching donor’s stem cells and allowing treatment to begin promptly.

A baby’s own umbilical cord blood guarantees a perfect match for himself. The cord blood can also potentially increase the odds of having a match for his siblings and parents.

Expectant parents are storing cord blood for their families, not only as a potential life-saving resource for current uses of stem cells, but also for their future potential. Some families have more defined risk factors, but most often, parents bank for the security in knowing the health benefits stem cells may someday offer their children themselves, or other family members.

Recent clinical studies support the unique suitability of cord blood stem cells for a number of developing technologies. Doctors are especially enthusiastic about the potential use of cord blood stem cells in the emerging fields of gene therapy and cellular repair. When you bank your baby's cord blood stem cells, you are saving what may be a key component to potential future medical treatments and cures.

Each child’s cord blood stem cell sample is unique. Saving the cord blood for each of your children will help ensure that an exact genetic match is available. In addition, it increases the likelihood of a useful match between family members. For identical twins, it is recommended that cord blood be collected for both babies to save as many stem cells as possible. This is because the collection volume per baby in multiple births is usually smaller, so collecting for both babies helps ensure an adequate stem cell yield for transplantation if ever needed.

Yes. Your baby's cord blood can potentially be used for other family members, especially his siblings. This is because we can still use the stem cells, with up to two antigens mismatches, in cord blood transplants.

The safety and viability of your baby's stem cells are far more important than the proximity of the storage location. The most important criteria for your family’s selection of a cord blood bank is to ensure that:

• Your baby's cord blood collection yields the greatest number of stem cells possible and that the cells are viable and available if they are ever needed for transplant. StemCord has contributed to the care of patients with cancers. The successful engraftment of stem cells processed, stored and used in conventional stem cell transplants is a testament to the reliability of StemCord’s stringent processing and storage methods.
• The bank's laboratory and storage facility is in a location that is not subject to major environmental disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. StemCord’s laboratories are located in the safe haven of Science Park I and II. Should they be needed, your stem cells can quickly be shipped to any medical centre in the world.
• The cord blood bank is financially stable and will be around in the future to ensure your baby's stem cells will be available if needed. StemCord was founded with long-term storage objectives in mind as it believes that the best uses of stem cells will be in the future. It is Singapore’s only profitable cord blood bank with the financial strength to sustain long-term cord blood banking storage needs.

When you donate your baby’s cord blood to a public bank, it may be used for research or by someone else. It is important for parents to understand that not all donated samples are banked. This same discipline applies to a normal blood donation drive that not everybody is suitable for blood donation. A rejection from the public banks could be based on family medical history, maternal medical history, collection volume, and examination of the maternal blood sample.

If autologous cells are not available, or cannot be used, stem cells from a relative (preferably a sibling) are usually the next best treatment option. Unrelated cord blood puts the patient at a much greater risk of developing potentially fatal GVHD. Related cord blood also reduces the risk that the transplant sample may harbor genetic problems that could cause disease in the recipient because of the family's prior knowledge of their genetic history.

Cord blood cells, being less mature than adult stem cells, have a higher likelihood of being a suitable HLA match between siblings as compared to only a slim chance for bone marrow. Public banks can ensure an adequate sample for transplant but not the best or most preferred sample. Families that personally bank their baby's cord blood stem cells have the assurance and security of the closest match for either child or family member, without fear of not finding a match.